"One of the most decorated British fighter pilots of the Second World War
has sold his medals, diaries and other memorabilia partly to pay for a hip
replacement operation for his wife who faced at least a six-month wait on
the National Health Service.
Sqn Ldr Neville Duke, 83, the Royal Air Force's top-scoring ace in the
Mediterranean theatre who set a world air speed record of 728 mph in 1953,
put the collection up for auction rather than subject his wife Gwen to
months of pain and discomfort while she waited for an operation. "
(from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...08/nduke08.xml)
And a reference to him embedded in the article about John
Derry's demise at Farnborough:-
"There was a short break in the display, then Neville Duke did a supersonic
dive in a prototype Hawker Hunter. There was a deadly silence from the
crowd, who were very nervous about this being repeated." (from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/w...00/4219540.stm )